Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Newsletter: Term 2, Week 8


BUMPER WORKING BEE COMING UP!
Hi everyone. We are planning our next working bee for Sunday, July 24 from 9am to 2pm. It’s the first weekend after we return to school so we wanted to let you know before the holidays. We have a few large projects to complete including:
Installing taps to distribute rainwater from the tanks;
Using a digger to move soil and add lots of soil improvers;
Preparing our new raised garden beds (delivery soon!) to ready them for planting;
Building our chickens’ permanent home; and
Planting stage one of the fruit forest.

The garden is really taking shape now. Thanks to everyone who has helped us up to this point. We could not have done it without you! It is looking absolutely fantastic.

Next Working Bee July 24. Please mark it on your calendar! We need your help, even if you can only come for an hour or two. 9am until 2pm.

EGGSCITING NEWS
Have you heard? We had an egg a day last week from our beautiful hens. Say hello to the girls when you walk past. They love a chat (and a pat if there is grown up around to help you)!

HOLIDAY FOR CHICKENS
The Morle family are very excited about being the first ones to take the chickens home for the school holidays. Henry (year 4) and Oliver (year 1) promise to take good care of Caramello, Chickpea and Snowdrop!

OLD SHIRTS NEEDED
Our Monday Garden Club is well underway with the year 5s busy making beautiful mosaic mushrooms for the garden. The kids are working with tile adhesive and need some old shirts to wear to protect their clothes.
Do you have some you might not need anymore? If so, please drop them off at the Eco Food Garden Room adjacent to the library.

BUSH TUCKER BONANZA
Years four and five are planting the bush tucker component of the garden today.  Mrs Eastman’s class made the plant labels with Mrs Hall in computer class and they look amazing. Well done kids! Now we will be able to walk around the garden and identify each plant and its uses.

FANTASTIC FRIDAY
We had so much fun in the garden on Friday. Two year one classes planted their garden bed with lots of yummy vegetables and some parsley grown from seed from the year two bed! The kindys, and year twos harvested their beds and got to take home the produce, as well as planting some new seedlings, many of which were grown from seed by Mrs Sharp’s class. Phew! So busy and so much fun.
We also took some beautiful photos of Caramello and our bountiful harvest and have entered a competition to win a Harvest Table for the school. Wish us luck!

RAFFLE DONATIONS PLEASE
We have another Bunnings BBQ coming up on Saturday, August 6 and would like to run a bumper Father’s Day raffle as well. They are a great way to raise money for our school as shown by the wonderful profit on Election Day.
We are looking for donations along the following lines and would appreciate anything that you might be able to give. If any businesses can offer vouchers or similar that would be fantastic too:
* Garden and Handyman
* Gourmet and BBQ
* Fitness and Tech
Please drop any donations off to the front office. If you have any questions, please contact Colleen
Thankyou!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Our Chickens Have Arrived!

Today our school received three chickens that the Eco Garden Committee, KA, KB and K/1S will be working with. Students were able to pat them and hear all about the new pets when they arrived today. The chickens have a new coop and run situated in the eco garden area. All the students are excited about learning how to care for, feed and watch the chickens grow over the next few weeks. Many thanks to Rhonda French and the Eco-Garden Committee for their help and the new chicken home.


Mr Green the gecko says...

“Mulch, mulch away!”

This week’s hint comes courtesy of Alan Rate from Hornsby Heights Plants. If you have wood chips throughout your garden add a layer of manure to them and keep it reasonably moist. Over time the wood will break down, leaving behind beautiful, nutrient-rich soil.

Newsletter: Term 2, Week 6

BIG THANKS TO ALL BUNNINGS BBQ HELPERS

It was our first Bunnings BBQ for the year and we not only raised the profile of our wonderful school and the garden project, but also raised $944!! Well done.

OUR GRANT IS IN

We recently submitted our application for the $2500 Environmental Trust Eco Schools grant. Fingers crossed we are successful with this one! We have applied for a frog pond, a Mr Green raised garden bed and a tiered seating and outdoor learning area.

CHOOKS

Look out for our chooks being delivered this week! We are very excited about this “living” addition to our garden.

BUSH TUCKER BONANZA

We need to say a big thanks to Alan Rate from Hornsby Heights Plants at 202 Somerville Rd. Alan kindly donated $100 worth of plants to our school. We have some exciting bush tucker varieties for our garden as well as some beautiful wildflowers. We enjoyed collecting the plants and the chat we had. He is extremely knowledgeable and only too happy to help. Pop in and see him next time you have a moment.